Chapter 22:
Dungeon Training
Yesterday, I became a man who slaughtered giant tadpoles in a rage because I wanted skill orbs. I'm still planning to raise my Luck to 3, so I'll keep raising it.
Skills
[Strong Acid], [Super Agility], [Disease Resistance 5], [Snatch], [Mucus 2], [Space], [Luck 3]
["Zzzzz…jarrah…"]
In the morning, I spent the day in the front room of the dungeon, relaxing and working on packing magic stones into plastic pouches.
I am preparing to sell the magic stones to the dungeon store again today. The sound of me putting magic stones into the pouch is pleasant to my ears. Considering more and more people are going to dive into dungeons in the future, it would be more profitable to sell as many magic stones as possible before the supply increases and the price collapses.
Then, for lunch, I went to a local ramen chain restaurant for the first time in a long time. I was very happy I had some extra money to spend after the magic stones sale. So I decided to eat out as a small reward to myself.
"Excuse me, tanmen (ramen soup noodles with stir-fried pork and vegetables) with lots of vegetables and garlic dumplings. And the stir-fried chive liver, please."
I finished my order with the waitress and took a sip of water, satisfied.
I haven't been eating a lot of vegetables lately, so today, I'm going to treat my body gently with tanmen. And to help my body withstand the rigors of dungeon exploration, I chose to recharge my stamina with garlic dumplings and stir-fried chive liver. I had no problem finding a balance in my nutritional needs.
And again, I came to the dungeon store.
I wondered if the cute, big-breasted female waitress was there. I peeked inside the store and saw that she was on duty again today and working energetically.
"Welcome! Welcome to Dungeon Shop Parade."
I head straight to her and ask her to buy my magic stones.
"Yes, please place the items you wish to sell on this tray."
Today, she again charmed me with a brilliant side shot as she turned on her side to retrieve the silver tray from under the counter. She turned on her side and moved her arms up and down so that her compressed side tits would look like this, enticing me to see them.
"Please."
"Then please wait in the store until the assessment is finished."
But just like last time, I put the magic stones in the plastic pouch on the tray, and the cute, big-breasted female clerk looked at me twice or thrice, alternating between my face and the top of the tray, before disappearing into the backspace with a suspicious look on her face.
(I was so surprised. Did I look too much at her breasts? She might have noticed me).
With such an unbearable feeling, I waited for the assessment to be finished, received the purchase money, and turned on my heel to walk away.
"Oh, um…"
But as I was leaving, the female clerk called out to me for some reason.
But then I had an epiphany. I had eaten garlic dumplings before coming here. That must have been it! If this cute waitress had said to me, "Um, your mouth smells bad.", I would have been depressed.
So I leave the shop as if I hadn't heard her voice.
(Oh, no, that was a mistake.)
You never know when something unforeseen will happen. That is why the earth is so scary. And I should refrain from using garlic when I talk to someone.
Today, I took the same route to the dungeon store and bought the magic stone from them. I had about 500,000 yen in cash on hand. There were some branches of Dungeon Shop Parade among the stores I visited, but as long as they weren't investigating me too closely, I should be fine.
And, as people get more enthusiastic when they have money, I stopped by a chain of steakhouses on the way home and ordered a steak and other dishes to satisfy my taste buds. No, no! My body was craving high protein, and I had no choice!
……….
In the evening and night, I transformed into a giant tadpole slaughtering man again on the 7th floor.
Though giant, the tadpole is just a big tadpole and has no fighting ability. If it were underwater, it would have used its huge body like a rice bale to hit the enemy, but I can't do anything to the enemy out of the water. Sometimes it sprays water from its mouth at me, but that's about it.
Therefore, I have an overwhelming advantage and overrun them.
I had already hunted all the monsters near the entrance. So I decided to move on a little at a time.
Then, a frog in the process of growing appeared.
It was a tadpole-bodied frog, on the verge of becoming a frog, but still with a tail. It was standing in the aisle, holding a wooden stick. Wow, is this some monster wizard? But it seemed that the wooden cane was a walking aid, and when I took it away from it, it lost its balance and fell into the water, running away. I felt sorry for it.
"Huh., it seems I've grown too strong, oops!"
As I watched the growing frog run away and struck a pretentious pose, something else suddenly jumped out of the water again. What in the world? I'm impatient, but it's also a frog. It was a giant toad-like creature that was clinging to me.
"G….you…!"
Its face is that of a frog. But in its eyes, I could see the light of its will. Yes, it's trying to drag me underwater.
No matter how much protective gear I wear, I will suffocate in the water. That would be bad. So, I get into a tight four-way fight with the giant tree frog, and with good timing, I pull it out and slam it to the floor behind me with a suplex.
["Doggooooo!!!!"]
"Gggee… (BOOM!)"
"Huh… huh…! What is this? It's a caricature of a bird and beast."
A giant tree frog had been hit hard on the skull and died. As expected of a frog, it had half the leg strength and tenacity of the lower half of its body. The suplex was successful because the opponent tried to use its waists to lift me, and I could lift it while bending over. I don't know if the same technique will work again.
But before I had time to a sigh of relief, we heard a strange sound again.
["Flap, flap, flap, flap!"]
I jerked myself up and saw a giant tree frog stepping nimbly in the direction of the sound, its legs switching nimbly. Another one had appeared. The way it steps with the spring of its body is so majestic that it looks like a professional boxer.
The giant tree frog, leaning forward with its hands poised like a kung-fu fighter, lunged at me.
["Jubba! Boom! Boom!]
Ggh…!"
A series of skillful attacks that could hardly be considered frogs. However, all of them are trying to pull me into the water by grappling with each other. As expected, I flinched at the onslaught and take a large step backward.
"Next to sumo, is it boxing or kung fu? Whatever it is, it's nasty, dangerous!"
I had no idea that the tadpole I was slaughtering would grow up to become such a formidable monster. It's like a fighting frog, a grappler frog.
But it is interesting.
The monsters that have appeared so far are all I would never have thought engaging in melee combat. And in the fight against the massive cockroach, I learned that a fighting style that relies heavily on skill quickly becomes a dead end if that skill is blocked.
In such a situation, the most important thing, in the end, is the body and the fighting techniques to handle it. So, I'll improve my fighting skills against this fighting frog, Grappler Frog.
……….
Thus, I spent time in the dungeon fighting the grappling frog, honing my skills and gaining experience in combat.
It was only about three days, but my training days were so intense that the unibrow I had shaved off grew back beautifully. If I hit a telephone pole now, the impact would not only make a sparrow perched on an electric wire unable to fly away, but it might even break the pole itself.
I would not try such a thing because it would be a nuisance, and I would be in trouble if I were found.